"If you think any Rockets would just go away, you clearly don't know how tenacious we all are.", Jessie says, amused.
When they arrive, they look at the left hallway.
"There's sound coming out of that one."
"Should we investigate? It could be a trap."
"We'll have to pick one of them. We're not splitting up, we'd be sitting ducks for any grunt with a powerful Shadow Pokemon."
They ponder, then turn to Rey with a smirk.
"Where do you think we should go first?"
Rouxls Kaard looks more confused.
"Whenst did I sayeth that? Agh, never mindeth!"
He laughs.
"Gah ha ha ha! I accepteth your challengeste, and I shallth be victorioust! You'll be filled with turmoil, bamboozledeth for one hundred yearsth!"
His hands glow with dark magic.
"Now, worm, prepareth to seest the power of meest!"
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.
King of the Monsters
Rey rolls his eyes and goes down the hallway on the left without saying anything in response. He knocks on the door to where the humming is coming from... nothing. He tries to open it... it's locked.
He pulls out his controllers, which turn into Laser Blades this time, and slices the door off its hinges before kicking it down.
The GO Rocket Grunt from the Terminator fight is in there, operating on some kind of large, heavy machinery, which is producing the humming. He's hunched over, but looks back over his shoulder to see Rey, and his face contorts into a wicked sneer.
"Found him!" Rey yells across the hall.
"It's on!"
Off Model (YTPMV - King Harkinian Vs. Masked Rosen)
Meen holds out his open book, and a sizable laser fires out of it at Rouxls.
"He's gearing up for war."
Suddenly Carnivine charges into the room, spreading roots over the ground to try and ensnare the GO!Rocket Grunt before he can try anything, be it grabbing his Poke Ball or calling for help, as, if successful, his mouth will be covered too.
Team Rocket walks in, still smirking.
"Good job, weapons guy.", Meowth says.
Rouxls Kaard graciously floats to the side to avoid the laser, then grins.
"Lets enterst Phase One."
A box appears around the battlefield, similarly to the one Jevil summoned, though there's more room in this one. A box floats near I.M. Meen, and a white square appears on the other side.
"10 secondst, worm!", he laughs, not saying what exactly will happen, only insinuating that he has ten seconds to complete the puzzle to avoid having it happen.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.
King of the Monsters
"What the f-mph" The grunt is restrained.
Initially confused and startled, Rey figures out what happened and decides to roll with it. However, he still scratches his head in confusion. "Now, I'm no expert, but... what do we do if it turns out we need information that guy knows?"
I.M. Meen begins pushing the box toward the white square. He pauses along the way to conjure up a cage that surrounds Rouxls Kaard.
According to writing on the floor, the only way to escape this oh-so-devious trap is to find and correct the error in the following sentence:
The quick brown fox jumped over the the lazy dog.
Edited by KiriK on Oct 26th 2019 at 6:22:13 AM
"He's gearing up for war."
"Then we take him outside and have him talk there, where he isn't loud enough for other grunts to hear.", Jessie says.
"Right now, I don't think we need his help just yet."
"Although that machine is intriguing."
"Let's look around and see if we can't find the schematics so that we'll know what it does."
"Carnivine, be sure to hold on, but don't squeeze too tight."
"Car-nivine!", Carnivine responds, keeping its hold on the GO!Rocket Grunt as Jessie, James and Meowth start investigating.
Rouxls Kaard is surprised by the cage, but then reads the assignment. He scoffs.
"Gah ha ha ha! Doesth thou seest me as an infant? The wrongeth part in thisth sentence is the seconde 'the'.", he says.
Regardless of the results of his words, the trap will buy I.M. Meen enough time to get the box to the square before the ten seconds are up.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.
King of the Monsters
Nothing else is in the room except for the machine. However, there is a computer monitor hooked up to it that appears to be displaying some kind of diagnostic. Another monitor next to that is displaying a sort of digital depiction of a signal broadcast.
Rey looks around the room and walks over to the monitors when he sees them.
The cage falls apart harmlessly, but Meen has finished pushing the box by then.
Edited by KiriK on Oct 26th 2019 at 6:31:19 AM
"He's gearing up for war."
Divine Burden
Sheperds's base
Doppio pop out of a closet.
Did we win ?
Hmmm. Barring a mass hallucination, it appears that all evidences point to a continued activity of our organs.
?
Means we sure are alright, bud !
Chloé retreat into the tunnel, and all the Sheperds kind of gather in the same place, though some are away in the infirmary, being cared for by Emmeryn and Sakura. Samsara sit next to Donnel, a bit groggy, with a massive bandage over her clothes.
It was boring ! They didn't bleed ! Tsah tsah tsah !
Right ! They just turn into trophies ! What sort of violence is that ?
Huh ? You like violence too ?
I'd probably make love to it if I could, tee-hee !
Haha, you're funny ! Let's be friends !
Peri and Henry kind of hug each other, and Gangrel contemplate the scene with a bug-eyed stare of terror, aware of what was happening.
Still... those three nearly did wreck us. If it weren't for the reinforcements...
They had some of their own, milord !
Yes, I know, but... we really need to make more defenses, or seek more help or... you know, when the Einherjars or anyone else find us, we won't have the number advantages like in that one fight, you know ?
Yes. As much as it pains me to admit, we are ill-prepared...
Maybe we could try to trap the place around the fort ? At the very least, let's put more traps near the forests and other places where someone would try to sneak into.
I'll handle that. It shouldn't take us too long with our current firepower.
I know some regular traps as well. We'll need some time to make but it'll be deadlier for our foes. We ninjas are expert at that.
And if anyone want to see us the regular way... well, there is a fine bridge, I might say. If someone attempts to contact us by sneaking around, well... too bad for them.
Let's put some more sentries then. We're a bit too few to really cover everything but still...
Edited by Bolded1 on Oct 26th 2019 at 1:32:03 PM
Fallout 2? More like Fallout 2 bad.
Spooky Scary Boneheaded Man
Skies over the Arena, Low Orbit
A single ship appeared out of orbit, looking like the head of some manner of insect, and evidently fresh out of having escaped from formidable foes. It began loosing altitude, drawn downwards as if by some invisible hand...
Astil
... And evidently, that invisible hand was attached to an equally-invisible, remarkably clumsy and/or cruel body, as the ship, now smoking and aflame, crashed hard into the damp, fog-choked boglands of Astil.
Some clanking and banging from within seemed to indicate that whoever had been onboard was currently trying to get out...
"The Stick has sentimental value. It's like an enormous, hideous teddy bear we can kill things with." -rikalous
Meowth notices Rey's headed for something, so he goes over to him as well. He smirks when he sees the monitor.
"Now what do we have 'ere?"
He turns to Rey.
"Y'know how to work this thing, or should we try to hack it?"
"Inconceivablest! But no matter, for noweth we movest onto Phase Two!", Rouxls Kaard says.
Another box appears, as does another square. This time, however, the square is right behind Rouxls Kaard himself.
"Gah ha ha ha! Ten secondst, worm!", he laughs.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.
King of the Monsters
Rey looks at what's on the monitor. "I don't know what the hell this is, but you will definitely break something if you try to hack it yourself. Unless you have a member of the Magnemite family on hand."
Upon a closer look, he notes, "I think this machine was broadcasting this signal... but to what? And what's the point of the signal?"
Meen looks around in confusion, not immediately noticing that the square is behind Rouxls. This causes him to delay in pushing the box, which could cost him this round - whatever consequence that has.
"He's gearing up for war."
Laxin, Sith Emperor
Astil
Wrustoiz was meditating, floating in the air just above the grass. The crashing ship caught his attention, slowly dropping himself to the ground. He stood, and jogged his way to the now crashed ship.
He certainly didn't recognize it as something from the republic or empire, what a strange design. He attempted to use the force to sense if anything was alive within
Men have regrets
"Oh, this must be the cause of the signal we picked up!", James says as he approaches.
"Which means we should get rid of it, but how to do that without setting off an alarm...", Jessie ponders.
"Gah ha ha! Time isth up, worm!"
The square disappears and the box is teleported above Rouxls Kaard's head. He then magically tosses it at I.M. Meen's head.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.
Spooky Scary Boneheaded Man
Astil
Wrustoiz would be able to sense something, certainly, although 'alive' may not be the most perfectly accurate of words. "Thinking" and "mostly organic", certainly, but "alive" is complicated thing.
Either way, there was most definitely a being within the ship — human sized, perhaps a bit bulkier, and very much wanting to not be in the ship.
"The Stick has sentimental value. It's like an enormous, hideous teddy bear we can kill things with." -rikalous
King of the Monsters
"Wait," Rey says. He looks at the diagnostic. His eyes dart back and forth between the two monitors, noting the small words on the screens that don't appear to be directly tied to anything displayed.
"Okay... still no idea how this thing works, but I think this signal is for opening a portal."
"Ow!" Meen falls on his ass.
"H-ha! Such a feeble attack is unbecoming of someone calling himself a 'master'! Take this!" He throws a magic blast at Rouxls Kaard.
The blast freezes in midair. Rouxls has to say "she sells sea shells by the sea shore" without pausing or slipping up in order to stop it from hitting him.
"He's gearing up for war."
Laxin, Sith Emperor
Wrustoiz stepped around the ship looking for an entry of any kind. He ignited a lightsaber, perhaps if there wasn't an entrance he could cut his way through the hull.
Men have regrets
"Oh... oh, wait, isn't their main hideout in another world?", James ponders.
"Yeah... which means this is probably what creates the portal on this side.", Jessie says.
"We oughtta be careful with it then.", Meowth says.
The trio then glances at the captured grunt and grin deviously.
"Well then... you can still nod..."
"So how about you answer our question? Is this a portal creating machine?"
"Don't lie to us though. Otherwise..."
Jessie shows her Luxury Ball.
"We'll have to put Mimikyu on your head."
"And I'm sure you know what happens to people who see what a Mimikyu looks like underneath its cloth."
"F-Feeble!?"
He then notices the assignment that spells out what he has to say in order to avoid getting hit.
"Um... She selleth sea shellsth by... agh. Holdeth on- she selleth she... Shee selleth sea sellsth-"
He fails miserably and gets hit in the face.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.
King of the Monsters
The grunt screams under the gag, frantically nodding his head.
Kinda feel bad for him, Rey thinks to himself.
Meen does that annoying high-pitched cackle-laugh again.
"He's gearing up for war."
Spooky Scary Boneheaded Man
Astil
There was no definitive entrance, though there were spots on both the back and the underside that seemed probable. On the back there were traces of some manner of mechanized ramp. On the underside, which was exposed due to the angle of the ship, there was a cylindrical section, slightly larger overall than a man.
"The Stick has sentimental value. It's like an enormous, hideous teddy bear we can kill things with." -rikalous
"Alright, then we can keep it going.", Meowth says as he starts to walk back towards the door.
"Shutting it down would only limit our own possible advancements in this base after all.", James says as he follows.
"Thanks for your help.", Jessie says, teasingly trying to pinch the GO!Rocket Grunt's cheek before following the thers (regardless of the success of the pinching).
Carnivine follows its masters, keeping the grunt trapped for now.
"Let's take the right hallway this time.", Jessie says.
Rouxls Kaard fumes.
"Alright, worm! How aboutst Phase Three!?"
A pink box appears next to I.M. Meen. A blue square then appears to Rouxls Kaard's left, while a pink one appears to his right.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.
King of the Monsters
The grunt flinches.
Rey moves on ahead. He checks every other door in the right-side hallway... nothing.
"Guys... I think it's just him. If there were other grunts around, don't you think they would've mobbed that robot guy I mentioned with sheer numbers instead of just sending the one?"
Meen actually seems torn by the choice between matching the same colors (the obvious answer) and matching the opposing colors (the way he would set the puzzle). It takes him so long to ponder his options, in fact, that he just gives up and braces himself for the coming attack.
Edited by KiriK on Oct 26th 2019 at 7:21:33 AM
"He's gearing up for war."
"Possibly.", James says. "I guess we should move further inside and see if we can't find anything Shadow Pokemon related."
Meowth turns to the grunt.
"Sorry pal, but since we can't guarantee you won't run off for help if we let you go, you'll have to come with us."
Jessie grins and holds up the Luxury Ball.
"He'll show us the way we need to take, won't he?"
"Time's up, worm!"
This time, a magic blast in the form of multiple small words is blasted at I.M. Meen from the far right corner of the box.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.
Laxin, Sith Emperor
Wrustoiz attempted to stab into the cylindrical underside and cut it out entirely making a hole to get in and out.
Men have regrets
King of the Monsters
"I... think they knew people were living here, and didn't want to put enough stuff in this dinky little outpost to risk anyone finding out by sheer accident."
"Dear Arceus, you guys are incompetent."
Rey turns toward the source of the voice and immediately goes completely catatonic like he's experiencing a PTSD flashback.
It's Beeatrice!
She approaches the GO Rocket Grunt and sends out a Celebi. The Celebi puts its hands on its head and closes its eyes, looking into the Grunt's past. Then it sends what it saw back to Beeatrice. Having never done this before, she experiences a brief psychic backlash and stumbles back, but quickly recovers.
"... Okay yeah, there's nothing else important here. Anything to do with Shadow Pokémon was left at an unrelated station in Solstheim, back where Team GO Rocket first attacked, but this is the only one that connects back to my - our universe."
"OHNO"
Meen staggers back as the blast approaches, toppling over comically when it hits him.
"You will pay dearly for this humiliation!" Meen holds up his book with both hands and slams it shut.
A giant meteor begins to descend upon their location.
State three five-letter words that rhyme with 'quack'.
Black, Crack, and Slack are all options.
"He's gearing up for war."
"Hm... but what if they expected people to think that, and-"
In comes Beeatrice.
"It's you again.", James says, surprised.
"Incompetent!? Excuse you, but we're Rocket elites!", Jessie says.
"And we have to look at all the possibilities 'ere!", Meowth says.
And then Celebi does its thing, after which Meowth goes silent, his pride hurt.
"So either we go back to that other place, or we take this portal and go to their main base.", James says.
"There's no 'or' here. We should obviously go into their main base.", Jessie says. "If we can shut down whatever they're creating Shadow Pokemon with, we'll have cut off their supply."
"BY THE KNIGHT!"
Rouxls quickly looks at the assignment.
"Um... Blacketh... Lacketh... Stacketh!"
Edited by DevilPsyco on Oct 26th 2019 at 2:46:45 PM
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.
"I live out of here, nitwits. Of course if there were any strange noises or sights going on around here, I'd notice them sooner or later. Until you showed up, I was just ignoring them in the hopes they'd go away on their own."
They reach the basement. There is a lounge, and three hallways coming out from it. A faint electronic humming can be heard coming from a room on the hallway to the group's left.
The door disappears in a flash of light, leaving Meen standing behind it... pointing and laughing at Rouxls.
"Ahahahahahahah! You said 'I see you pee!' Don't you see!? The best way to get someone stuck on a puzzle is to force them to humiliate themselves to solve it!"
He raises a hand to the sky, sprinkling down magic sparkles from his fingertips.
"But enough pleasantries. I came here to drive off an intruder, not teach a novice in the ways of trickery! You will face me in a contest of wit and magic, or you will leave my sight!"
"He's gearing up for war."